Training in service - importing and imparting customer service culture as an interactive process

Customer service culture initiatives have received renewed academic attenti on. Recent surveys of employee responses have highlighted the importance of training. However, its precise nature and how messages and various respons es are mediated through an interactive and dynamic process have been largel y neglected. In addition, employees' experience of customer service as cons umers and of its contradictions has yet to be fully explored in accounting for employee responses. In an effort to develop existing knowledge and mode ls of customer service culture, these issues are addressed by drawing on ob servational research. Four training programmes are examined in varied conte xts, including a UK call centre and a Malaysian bank. They reveal a dynamic whereby trainers' anticipation of employee attitudes such as cynicism and the immediate reactions and dialogue of trainees help shape both the servic e message and subsequent responses.